Wednesday's Random 10

Still on the 80s kick, so here goes memory lane...

1. Journey - Send Her My Love
   
   ah, young memories...certainly this is one of those bands most don't admit to liking, but what the hell.  Always reminds me of my first real crush and the fact that I never really said goodbye at the end of my 8th grade year...never saw her again.  Nice guitar sound (typical of producer Mike Stone, who pulled the same sound out of Steve Howe, to the detriment of the Alpha album).
   
   
2. Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
   
   What's not to like?  Great melody, great bass riff, great musicianship, great video, strange lyrics (but typical for Simon).  Ok, a little bit of overplay at the time, but you could always light up a party with this one...
   
   
3. The Cars - Since You're Gone
   
   What a contrast from the first song here.  Very cynical.  The video (where they're playing in the house while all the furnature is being removed around them) is hilarious.
   
   
4. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
   
   Another great party song.  Video is interesting in having all those girls jump on stage and hugging them like crazy.  I wonder if that was an image thing, trying to hide the two singers' homosexuality?  Prior to making the album and working with Trevor Horn, they were more likely to be playing (and dressing for) the Blue Oyster club from the Police Acadamy films.
   
   
5. Fleetwood Mac - Gypsy
   
   Stevie Nicks' best ever.  If any song could be said to be made of crystal, this is it.  Extremely fragile (as shown by the fact that they rarely tried it live).  One of Lindsey's best guitar solos ever...Only a rare few songs will both buzz my spine and bring me a tear simultaneously, and this is one of them.
   
   
6. Peter Shilling - Major Tom (Coming Home)
   
   That other song of the Space Oddity theme.  Shilling's a German, but like most northern europeans, found breaking out easier by writing and singing in english.  Typical of the German electric sound of the time, its extremely clear and precise.  A fine piece of craftsmanship.
   
   
7. REO Speedwagon - Keep On Loving You
   
   Ah, the dreaded love ballad.  Didn't really know this one at the time it came out.  Rather typical, which is probably why its more fondly remembered by REO lovers.  I'm more a fan of their harder-edged stuff and bought the best-of album for those tracks.
   
   
8. Marillion - Freaks
   
   All the best freaks are here!  Discovered this much after its time.  Loved it for years but today its getting a little trite on me compared to Marillion's more serious works.  Marillion fans do still call ourselves Freaks thanks to this song, though.
   
   
9. Quarterflash - Night Shift
   
   Never really knew this.  A theme song from the Winkler/Keaton film.  Not Quarterflash's best.
   
   
10. America - The Border
    
    America in the 80s only really had 2 archetypal works - You Can Do Magic and the soundtrack to Last Unicorn.  Their remaining efforts tended to sound just like those and this is no exception.  The "adult contemporary" production put on them kinda lost their folk edge that made their 70s output interesting.
    
    

Speaking of The Last Unicorn, it looks like the plans to make a new live-action + CGI version of the film are falling apart. Meanwhile, Beagle is still fighting the original films distributors for the moneys legally owed him (they continue to claim the film hasn't made a profit in spite of half a million dvd sales as well as millions of sales of the videotape version over the last 20 years).

on the road to recovery...

the computer is working again, and fortunately the system didn't try to force me to re-enter my windows activation keys this time.

i'm NOT going to try that second graphics card again.  i don't need this hassle anymore...

time to transfer the 2nd season of the new Dr. Who (so far) over, I think...